May 22, 2006

The UD baseball team returns to the Atlantic 10 Baseball Championships for the second straight season and the fourth time in school history this week at Houlihan Park on the campus of Fordham University in the Bronx, NY. The Flyers (32-22) enter as the third seed in the six-team field and will face sixth-seeded George Washington (22-32) on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. ET.

UD's Athletics website, www.DaytonFlyers.com, is the best place to follow Dayton's from the 2006 Atlantic 10 Championships with it's A-10 Tournament Central page. The official online home of the Flyers is home to live stats, live audio and live video of every game of the A-10 Championships as well as driving directions, weather, ticket information and stats on all six teams in the tournament field.

Dayton has already clinched a 30-win season for the fourth time school history, all coming since head coach Tony Vittorio came to the Hilltop in 2000. He enters the A-10 Tournament with a 196-188 record at UD and with four straight wins this week, Vittorio would not only reach 200 victories at Dayton but he would give the Flyers their first Atlantic 10 Conference Championship.

Also joining UD in the six-team field are top seed Rhode Island and second seed St. Bonaventure which received byes to Thursday. Fourth seed Charlotte and fifth seed Saint Louis will make their inaugural appearance in the A-10 Championships against each other on Wednesday at Noon ET.

Wednesday's matchup between Dayton and George Washington is first between the two teams this season. Last year, the Colonials won all four games against the Flyers including a 4-2 decision in the 2005 Atlantic 10 Championships en route to GW's second-place finish at Fifth/Third Field.

The Flyers hold a 7-5 combined record against the A-10 Tournament field this season. Despite being swept by the Regular Season Champion Rhode Island, Dayton took two of three from St. Bonaventure and Saint Louis while sweeping a three-game series with Charlotte.

UD closed out the regular season with a .280 batting average on the strength of three Flyers hitting above .300. The Flyer infield has paced the offense with a .319 average amongst its regulars.

Senior second baseman Galen Schumm leads the team with a .345 average and eight home runs. He also smacked a school record tying 23 doubles this season while ranking second on the team in runs scored and fourth in RBI.

Junior shortstop Michael Massa has utilized his speed to tally seven triples and 20 stolen bases this season. He has been Dayton's leadoff batter in every game during the past two seasons. This year he has reached base safely 45.3 percent of the time that he leads off an inning at the plate and has scored 41 of those 48 times.

Junior third baseman Joe McSoley returned to the lineup this past weekend after missing 10 games due to injury. He has hit .293 this season with 31 RBI in 43 games played. McSoley has also been one of Dayton's best assets while playing small ball with four sacrifice flies and a team bets eight sacrifice flies.

Senior Craig Rohren has stepped into the first base role full-time this season while filling in for Jeff Mercer who redshirted the season due to family reasons. Rohren is hitting .296 with 15 doubles, 24 runs scored and 29 RBI in 39 games played. He was named the team's Most Improved Player by his teammates last week and after jumpstarting his season with a school-record nine RBI in a 28-7 victory at IPFW.

The corners of the Flyer outfield have been solid at the plate as well with left fielder Bobby Getty hitting .342 and right fielder Bryan Chandler batting .295.

Getty has reached double digits in stolen bases for the second consecutive season while scoring 38 runs and driving in 32. He has a .493 slugging percentage this year including a walk-off home run with two outs in the bottom of the 11th inning to beat Charlotte on May 5 at Time Warner Cable Stadium.

Chandler leads Dayton with 40 RBI while ranking second on the team with 16 doubles. He has also poked four triples with the biggest coming in an 8-6 victory at Fordham to secure the win. Chandler has also collected three outfield assists this season to tie for the team lead.

The UD pitching staff enters the postseason with a 4.84 ERA while recording four shutouts on the year. Dayton has struck out 321 and has walked just 180 in 463.0 innings pitched while holding opponents to a .273 batting average.

Senior Luke Trubee is slated to take the hill in the opener on Wednesday against George Washington. The senior righty has a team-best eight wins this season to go along with a 4.32 ERA. He is Dayton's all-time leader in wins (29) and strikeouts (212) while fanning 76 batters this season.

Juniors Kyle Lindsay and Chris Rubio are also among the top starting options for the Flyers. Lindsay enters with a 6-1 mark and a 4.84 ERA. He has struck out 54 batters this season and opponents are hitting .274 off him. Rubio has made 10 starts and nine relief appearances in his first season wearing the Red and Blue. He has struck out 42 in 72.1 innings pitched.

Rohren will likely move from first base to the middle of the diamond for UD in the late innings as the Flyer closer. The right hander has converted 31 of 34 save opportunities over the past three seasons including a school-record and A-10 best 10 this season. He has recorded 24 strikeouts in 24 appearances while holding opponents to a .216 average.